Inside the failed mission to eliminate FEMA

David Richardson testifies before Congress in 2025, when he was leading the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). That rhetoric was echoed by top administration officials, including then-Department of Homeland Security (DHS (Dept. of Homeland Security)) Secretary Kristi Noem, who controlled the agency's budget. In recent months, the fear of wholesale agency abolition or mass layoffs has dissipated among FEMA workers, according to multiple current FEMA employees who requested anonymity because they fear retaliation for speaking to a journalist. As a matter of policy, we do not comment on accounts in forthcoming books, internal operational deliberations, or personnel matters." The White House declined to comment. Marines for more than 20 years, arrived in FEMA's top job "reluctantly" and with no experience with disaster management. Still, he says he was ready to take on the job because he had previously led efforts to cut the Countering Weapons of Mass Destruction office within DHS. As he recounts in a new book Texas Flood: Power, Money, Politics, History, Bureaucracy and Tragedy , a DHS deputy chief of staff told him, "Dave, things have changed," before explaining that the president's council, not Richardson, would decide the future of FEMA. Rebecca Hersher/NPR hide caption Indeed, at public meetings of the council that summer, members discussed a variety of recommendations for whether and how to cut FEMA's workforce. Noem's replacement at DHS, Markwayne Mullin, was previously a Senator from Oklahoma, and has extensive experience working with FEMA after major disasters in the state, Rumbach points out. Last month, the Senate confirmed Cameron Hamilton to lead FEMA.